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1960 Trivia, History, and Fun Facts |
Quick Facts from 1960Table of Contents |
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US StatisticsUS GDP (1998 dollars): $526.6 billion Federal spending: $92.19 billion Federal debt $290.5 billion Unemployment: 5.5% Gallon of Gas: 25 cents Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.04 |
Top Ten Baby Names of 1960Mary, Susan, Linda, Karen, Donna, Lisa, Patricia, Debra, Cynthia, Deborah |
Fashion Icons and Sex SymbolsCarroll Baker, Brigitte Bardot, Claudia Cardinale, Doris Day, Angie Dickinson, Anita Ekberg, Annette Funicello, Audrey Hepburn, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Newmar, Kim Novak, Leslie Parrish, Stella Stevens, Elizabeth Taylor, Tina Turner, Mamie Van Doren |
Sex Symbols and Hollywood HunksPaul Newman, Robert Goulet, Elvis Presley |
Oscars: 32nd Academy Awards (1960)The Oscars on April 4, 1960, were hosted by Bob Hope at the RKO Pantages Theatre. The night belonged to Ben-Hur, which swept 11 Oscars, a record that stood until 1997. Charlton Heston received the Best Actor award for his role in the film, while Simone Signoret won Best Actress for Room at the Top. Grammy Awards: 2nd Annual Grammy Awards (1960)The 2nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on November 29, 1960. Bobby Darin made a splash by winning Record of the Year and Best New Artist for his hit “Mack the Knife.” The event saw the introduction of the Best Jazz Performance and Best Comedy Performance categories, adding more diversity to the awards. Emmy Awards: 12th Primetime Emmy Awards (1960)Hosted at the NBC Studios in Burbank on June 20, 1960, the Emmy Awards had Robert Stack winning Best Actor for The Untouchables and Jane Wyatt snagging Best Actress for Father Knows Best. Playhouse 90 secured the Best Dramatic Series with a continuing story, while Art Carney Special received the Best Comedy award. |
“The Quotes”“Smile! You’re on Candid Camera!” “A boy’s best friend is his mother.” |
Time Magazine’s Men of the YearUnited States Scientists, Represented by George Beadle, Charles Draper, John Enders, Donald A. Glaser, Joshua Lederberg, Willard Libby, Linus Pauling, Edward Purcell, Isidor Rabi, Emilio Segrè, William Shockley, Edward Teller, Charles Townes, James Van Allen, and Robert Woodward |
Miss AmericaLynda Mead (Natchez, MS) |
Miss USALinda Bement (Utah) |
The ScandalsChuck Berry (age 34) got in legal trouble when he took a 14-year-old girl from Arizona to Missouri to work at his Bandstand club. Comedic actress and producer Lucille Ball filed for divorce from her husband, Desi Arnaz, after 19 years of marriage. JFK was elected President of the United States reportedly with much help from the votes of dead Americans in Cook County, Illinois, and in Texas. |
The Space MysteryRussian and American Air Defense units saw the mysterious BLACK KNIGHT Satellite. At 15 tons, it was bigger than any country could have sent then. It ‘disappeared’ after about three weeks but has been spottily reported for decades; it is possible that Nikola Tesla heard radio broadcasts from it as early as 1899. |
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| Some internet sources say it has been orbiting for around 13,000 years. NASA and other space agencies have been silent about the craft, although they do allow the occasional picture. |
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1960 Pop Culture Facts & HistoryAugust 1, 1960 – The Twist by Chubby Checker was released. On August 6, Chubby Checker (Ernest Evans) performed his version of The Twist, written by Hank Ballard, on The Dick Clark Show. It reached number one on The Billboard chart for the first time on September 19, 1960. USAF Captain Joseph Kittinger set three records on August 16th – the highest parachute jump (102,800 feet), the longest parachute free-fall (4 minutes 36 seconds), and the first person to exceed the speed of sound without an aircraft or space vehicle (714 mph during free fall). Morely Cigarettes are a fake brand of cigarettes used across mass media since April 5, 1961, first used on an episode of The Naked City. The largest polar bear on record, reportedly weighing 2,209 pounds, was a male shot at Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in 1960. When mounted, he stood 11 feet, 1 inch tall on its hind legs. Motown, founded by Berry Gordy Jr., was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation. On July 20, 1960, The world’s first-ever elected female head of government in the modern era was elected in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Sirimavo Bandaranaike as Prime Minister. The first CERN particle accelerator became operational in Geneva, Switzerland. The PLATO computer system, introduced at the University of Illinois in 1960, invented forums, message boards, chat rooms, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multiplayer video games years before the internet existed. Having standard showtimes for films was not expected until 1960. Previously, most films would just play on a loop, and people could enter at any time. Thriller Psycho was one of the first films set to viewing times. On September 30, 1960, The Flintstones premiered at 8:30 PM on ABC. Joanne Woodward received one of the first stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The AFL began placing players’ names on the back of their jerseys. Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox started the practice earlier that year. NOB – Names On Back. The New York Yankees have traditionally never worn the names. KISS is an acronym for “Keep it simple, stupid,” as a design principle noted by the US Navy in 1960. When Eisenhower planned to visit Japan in 1960, the government called on Yakuza bosses to lend an army of their men as security guards. The visit was later canceled. Amos ‘n’ Andy, an American radio sitcom set in Harlem with black characters, ran from 1928 through 1960, was created, written, and voiced by two white actors. February and Late August through September, CBS broadcast the 1960 Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics exclusively for $60,000. The record for the fastest propeller passenger aircraft (541.45 MPH) was set on 24 March 1960 by the Russian Tupolev Tu-114. The X-15 jet has held the record for the world’s fastest plane since 1960 (2,196 MPH), 1961 (4,093 MPH), 19612 (4,104 MPH), and 1967 (4,534 MPH). Mariana Trench: Only three people ever went into The Mariana Trench. Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard, two scientists aboard the Trieste on January 4, 1960, and film director James Cameron in 2012. Starting on February 24, the first submerged circumnavigation of Earth was completed by USS submarine Triton on April 25th (Operation Sandblast, 60 days, 21 hours). December 31, 1960: The last day on which the farthing, a coin first minted in England in the 13th century, was legal tender in the United Kingdom. The value at that point was less than a penny. Paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey discovered 1.4 million-year-old Homo erectus (Olduvai Hominid 9) in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
There are three dots on every Domino’s Pizza box because when founder Tom Monaghan started his chain, he planned on adding a dot with each new store. Looking back, 8,000+ stores later, it was a good idea to stop with the three dots, forming a simple domino. The term paparazzi originated with Italian director Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. One of the minor characters in the film is a photographer named Paparazzo. Fellini took Paparazzo’s name from the Italian word for a noisy mosquito. |
Snoopy’s DoghouseSnoopy’s doghouse is always shown from the side so as never to reveal the interior, leaving what’s inside to the reader’s imagination. On May 8, 1960, the inside of the doghouse can be seen, but it seems empty. It is apparently not empty.
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Civil RightsFebruary 1, 1960 – In Greensboro, North Carolina, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter. Although they were refused service, they were allowed to stay at the counter. July 25, 1960 – The same Woolworth Company’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, served a meal to its first black customer. May 6 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law. In 1960, Republican Frank R. Beckwith was the first African American to run as a candidate for President of the United States in a major-party primary |
Cold WarIn 1960, the President of France told the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, “I do not know what Khrushchev is going to do, nor what is going to happen, but whatever he does… I want you to know that I am with you to the end.” May 1 – Several Soviet surface-to-air missiles shot down an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers of the Central Intelligence Agency, is captured. July 1 – A Soviet Air Force MiG-19 fighter plane flying north of Murmansk, Russia, over the Barents Sea, shot down a six-man RB-47 Stratojet US Air Force reconnaissance plane. Four of the Air Force officers were killed, and the two survivors were held prisoner in the Soviet Union. October 12 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, protesting the discussion of the Soviet Union’s policies toward Eastern Europe. |
Doomsday ClockSeven minutes to midnight, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. |
The HabitReading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. |
1st Appearances & 1960’s Most Popular Christmas Gifts, Toys and PresentsGreen Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss, Game of Life*, Etch-A-Sketch, Barbie, Chatty Cathy, Mattel’s Lie Detector Game, Mr. Machine, Play-Doh Fun Factory |
Best Film Oscar WinnerBen-Hur (presented in 1960) |
Popular and Best-selling Books From 1960Dr. Seuss’s ABC by Dr. Seuss |
1960 Most Popular TV Shows1. Gunsmoke (CBS) |
1960 Billboard Number One SongsDecember 28, 1959 – January 3, 1960: January 4, 1960 – January 17: January 18 – February 7: February 8 – February 21: February 22 – April 24: April 25 – May 22: May 23 – June 26: June 27 – June 10: July 11 – July 17: July 18 – August 7: August 8 – August 17: August 15 – September 18: September 19 – September 25: September 26 – October 9: October 10 – October 16: October 17 – October 23: October 24 – November 13: November 14 – November 20: November 21 – November 27: November 28, 1960 – January 8, 1961: |
1960 United States CensusTotal US Population: 179,323,175 |
Sports HighlightsWilt Chamberlain scored 58 points, the most ever by an NBA rookie, as Philadelphia Warriors beat Detroit Pistons, 127-117 in Bethlehem, PA. In 1960, the National Basketball Association player Wilt Chamberlain got 55 rebounds in a game versus the Boston Celtics. Wilma Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994) had polio as an infant and was unable to walk properly until she was 11. For several years, her family had to massage her legs four times a day, and she had to wear a metal brace. In 1960, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in an Olympic event. October 29 – In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) won his first professional boxing match over Tunney Hunsaker. On September 9, 1960, The first regular-season game in the American Football League took place at Boston’s Nickerson Field. The Denver Broncos defeated the Boston Patriots, 13–10. On September 10, 1960, during the Summer Olympics in Rome, Ethiopian runner Abele Bikila became the first Sub-Saharan African to win a gold medal. He ran barefoot. |
SportsWorld Series Champions: Pittsburgh Pirates |
More 1960 Facts & History Resources:BabyBoomers.com (1960) |
